Shoutout to the old school wire brush I almost threw away

I had this beat up wire brush from my grandpa's garage for years, figured it was junk compared to my fancy new poly disks. Last month I was doing a heavy creosote job on a 1940s house in Cleveland and the poly disk just smeared everything, but that old wire brush tore through the gunk like butter. Anybody else find an old tool that worked better than the modern stuff on certain jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

young.ryan16h ago

That line "the poly disk just smeared everything" hit me hard because I used to be one of those guys who'd swear by the new stuff. I remember thinking my grandpas tools were just old junk, but then I had a real stubborn mess on a window frame and the wire brush ate right through it. I definitely changed my mind after seeing that happen a few times, old tools were built for the rough stuff. Technically the modern stuff is fancier but sometimes the basic tools just do the job better.

abby_cooper16h ago

Respectfully disagree - my poly disks handled that same job way faster after I slowed down the drill speed.

nelson.wren15h ago

So when you slowed the drill down with the poly disks, were you using them dry or with some kind of lubricant? I've found that makes a bigger difference than most people give it credit for. Because if you were running them wet at that lower speed, that might explain why they worked better than my experience has been. Just trying to figure out if it's the tool itself or the technique that's really the difference maker here.